Alabama Turns Penn State Into Three Points And Not Much Else

Penn State and Alabama wasn’t even really a contest, since playing against a Nick Saban defense requires a special mathematical formula telling you exactly how badly you just lost.

For instance, the halftime score was 17-0. Against other teams, that score means “two touchdowns and a field goal.” Against Alabama, that score actually equates to a 34-0 score, since each TD counts double and field goals are worth 4.5 points, especially when freshman Robert Bolden is trotted out in Bryant-Denny on the road against the Crimson Tide defense.

Penn State would, in the long struggle to move the ball ten yards in three tries against Alabama, finally punch through and kick a single field goal to keep from being shut out in Tuscaloosa. Alabama’s offense played well enough, particularly tailback Trent Richardson, who filled in for Mark Ingram with 22 carries for 141 yards and a score, but make no mistake: this game came down to a retooled Alabama defense turning this game into one long act of futility by Penn State on offense.

They will face a challenge soon in the SEC, either against Arkansas, or South Carolina, or in the remote chance they get their offense together, Florida. They will be pushed to cover receivers and stymie a quarterback who can pick apart the tiny spaces in the Crimson Tide’s stingy 3-4. But tonight there was little in the way of challenge from an undermanned Penn State team that had to kick a field goal to keep from taking a shutout on the evening.